The City is working to develop a community-based poverty reduction strategy in Burnaby. The project is co-led by the Burnaby Neighbourhood House (BNH) and Burnaby Family Life (BFL), with the intent to reduce poverty at a local level and support the Province’s poverty reduction strategy, TogetherBC.
The City was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) and selected the BNH and BFL to as co-leads for the project (project team). The project team will work to engage community partners in public, private and non-profit sectors as well as residents with lived and living expertise of poverty in the development of the strategy.
The project will aim to meet the intended outcomes:
to gain a better understanding of how poverty is defined and contextualized in Burnaby
to identify/map existing programs and services that reduce poverty in Burnaby
to surface issues and/or gaps that are not currently serviced in the Burnaby community
to engage the community on poverty for better awareness, information and input
to identify roles and responsibilities of key partners to lead a collective effort to reduce poverty
to develop a strategy that will guide poverty reduction work in Burnaby
The intended impacts of the proposed project are:
Commitment of key partners to poverty reduction in Burnaby
Identification of local actions that can be achieved within a timeframe (with avenues for sustained funding)
Collective impact towards poverty reduction in Burnaby
The Burnaby Poverty Reduction Strategy project will develop through 4 phases, leading to the development of a strategy that has been created by community, for community. Throughout the process, the project team will be working with a steering committee on a comprehensive engagement plan to bring the voices of residents with lived and living expertise of poverty to the table.
